Ngarla

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The Ngarla are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Contents

Country

Norman Tindale estimated their territory, to the west of Port Hedland, at around 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2), describing it as lying along the coast to the west of Solitary Island as far as the mouth of the De Grey River. [a] He set their upriver boundary between Kudingaranga (Mulyie Station) and Tjaljaranja (otherweise known as Taluirina Pool). Their traditional inland extension was said to run up to Yarrie. [2]

Social organisation

The Ngarla had a four class system:

History of contact

White colonisation of Ngarla domains began in 1864. Over the following two years, smallpox swept through the area killing off large numbers of Ngarla. By 1886 there were said to be several hundred. [3]

Alternative names

Some words

Notes

  1. "The Ngurla tribe occupy about twenty miles frontage to the De Grey River on each side of its mouth, and their territory extends back for the same distance on both sides." [1]

Citations

  1. Harper 1886, p. 288.
  2. Tindale 1974, pp. 251–252.
  3. 1 2 Harper 1886, p. 290.
  4. Tindale 1974, p. 252.
  5. Harper 1886, p. 292.

Sources